Woes of the Forgotten

"I couldn't do it Gray!" Came the cry of an eleven year old Cana as small tears streaked down her face as she ran over to the shirtless boy at their usual hangout spot.

"Again Cana? What happened this time?" Gray asked as she plopped herself down next to him with her head in her hands, slightly hiccuping as she tried to take in a breath of air.

"I managed to get a few words in and get his attention before he left, but I panicked and just waved goodbye to him." She balled once again into her hands and Gray patted her on the back reassuringly.

"Well, nothing we can do about it now so you'll try again next time, right?" He asked with a smile on his face and the young brunette smiled at him return.

"Still sticking with the whole "No time for tears, only time for action" motto, huh?" She asked trying to compose herself as she tried to wipe away her tears.

"Of course, nothing will get done if we just cry about it all the time." Gray replied with his usual smirk, although he wasn't aware if Cana knew he was a hypocrite to his own words.

"Then I hope you're ready to deal with me when I'm taking action with tears in my eyes." Cana retorted as Gray's smirk grew bigger at her words and stood with confidence.

"Of course, you can count on me being ready and prepared!"

An old memory of the close bond Gray shared with Cana appeared in his head, though it was not by mere chance that this occurred. It was when he heard the running steps of boots coming towards him and Gildarts that he saw a familiar brunette coming at them. Her steps purposeful as she quickly shortened the distance, but it was what was on her face that brought about the memory. The hard determination that was plastered across her features, coupled with the tears that streamed down from her eyes brought forth his nostalgia from the depths of his memories. Gray subconsciously opened his arms to take her in as he had been prone to do for her so many years ago, but immediately retracted them once he realized what he was about to do. Something Gildarts didn't miss as he watched him from the corner of his eye while watching his daughter run at them.

It wasn't long before she stood before them and immediately latched onto Gildarts' cloak, looking desperately into his eyes. Something neither one of them have ever seen her do before and Gray has seen almost every face she could do. The brunette on the other hand wanted answers, but most of all she wanted the truth from her own father and whatever Zero knew about Yuki being her daughter.

"Tell me the truth Gildarts, is Yuki really my daughter?" She asked and the older man's breath caught in his throat at her question and Gray raised his eyes in surprise as she had discovered their little secret all too soon.

"Where did you hear that Cana?" The orange haired mage tried to change the conversation and stall, but Cana was not going to have any of that and gripped his cloak even tighter in her fists.

"Don't try to deflect me old man, I heard you talking about it with Zero from my card so spill!" The crash mage took her words with confusion until he felt inside his pocket to find one of her communication cards and nervously looked over towards Gray. He was aghast as the hooded mage merely shrugged his shoulders, signifying that he too had no idea of what to do.

"Sweet heart, just calm down a little please?" The older man tried to calm his daughter, although this only seemed to fuel her even more as eyes became daggers at her own father.

"Calm down!? You want me to calm down when you've been keeping my little girl away from me and not bother saying she was mine in the first place!?" Gildarts was a man who knew to always flee if he ever angered a woman, but he couldn't do so when being held in a vice grip.

"You can jump in any time you know!" Gildarts called out over to Zero, who just stood there with no intention to move and if he did, it was most likely to escape.

"This is a personal matter between the two of you, so I'll let you have your privacy." Zero replied as he was about to turn around and leave the old man to his fate, but a scoff stopped him in his tracks. The same one he knew very well that meant "No, you're not leaving" escape from the brunette.

"You are very well a part of this Absolute Zero. You were teaching my daughter magic and you also knew she was mine, so that means you'll be telling me how you found this out." To prove her point, she created a card entrapment around him to keep him from running away.

"Shit...I was so close." Gray mentally groaned as he really wasn't looking forward to try and explain how he knew what he knew or make up an elaborate story to drive it all home.

"Now you better start talking old man or else." Cana was in over burdening mode, something Gray couldn't lie that he missed seeing as she would pressure someone into listening to her and usually for the better of their well being.

"Come on Cana, you wouldn't do anything to your own dear ol' dad, now would you?" Gildarts pleaded as he tried to get onto her good graces, but she only smirked devilishly.

"You really want to try me? If you don't start talking you'll face a whole lot of problems from me, not to mention I'll tell Erza who really ate her last four slices of cheesecake last week." She cooly said in such a way that her threat seemed to be amplified even more so, or it could possibly be the mere fact that a raging monster like Erza over cheesecake would be involved was what may have been the major indicator for the crash mage to look like he was about to wet himself.

"You w-wouldn't do that, right? Right!?" Sure he was a powerful mage, but the brats were just getting even stronger with time and Natsu's getting pretty close to push him back more than six feet with a good punch. With Erza becoming master soon, there's no doubt she goes above and beyond the things he's seen Natsu do.

"Are you going to take your chances?" Cana replied coldly and smirked as a fear stricken Gildarts stood before her.

"I...I surrender to you my precious little princess!" Gildarts cried out as he tried to hug Cana, but she struck her hand out to stop his advances.

"Wow...he cracked so easily." Gray wanted to facepalm at how a powerful mage like Gildarts had been beaten with mere words, but maybe Erza is a bit of a stretch to deal with when angry.

"Now talk Gildarts, what do you know." Cana impatiently tapped her foot as the crash mage tried to come up with words to reply to her.

"I don't know much, I was just told that Yuki is truthfully my granddaughter from the master and he got his information from her master." Gray nearly choked on his own spit as the old man ratted him out so fast and moved the angered brunette towards him.

The hooded mage was ready to face a fierce card mage, but to his surprise her features relaxed and now he was face to face with a concerned mother. A description he never thought he could dub Cana after everything that happened in their past, but his heart clenched at the memories and tried to keep his persona of Absolute Zero as his true identity. Though the questions of what could have been rose up once again from the buried recesses of his mind now that the brunette faced him in such a way.

"Absolute Zero, I appreciate all that you've done for Yuki, but I need to know the truth as you're the only person that really knows anything at the moment." Cana really seemed concerned with wanting to know anything about the little ice mage and Gray could only stare in wonderment beneath his hood at how much his old best friend had changed.

"I guess I have no choice, what would you like to know Ms. Alberona." He replied to her and noticed the slight shift she did at his formal adressing of her.

"I won't mind if you call me Cana, but please tell me everything. How did you know Yuki is mine and whatever there is to say about her." She waited as the hooded man stood silent, while Gildarts calmly pried her hands off his cloak and clasped one of her hands in his.

"If you're sure then I'll tell you, but be aware that what I'm about to tell you is the history between you and someone I knew, and it won't be an easy thing to tell. Not for you to hear or for me to repeat." Cana nodded her head in understanding and Gray hated the fact that he had to create the elaborate story to fit his explanation. No doubt Gildarts won't be happy with him doing so, but it's the best chance to keep everyone away from him and from learning who he is.

"It was about twenty-two years ago in Isvan when I lost everything to a monster and started a new life from the ground up, roughly around the same time I met a close friend of mine who I thought of as a brother. We trained to become strong wizards, though he went off on his own journey to Fiore while I stayed behind in Isvan, yet we still kept in contact for many years. He told me of the adventures he went through and how he met a beautiful girl he was stricken with, something he had never been back home." If Gray was a storyteller, he'd do a pretty decent job at it, but at the moment it wasn't to entertain anyone at all. The ice mage's assumption about Gildarts had been correct as he noticed the look he was giving him, but the crash mage kept his mouth shut.

"Was I...Was I the girl he fell in love with?" Cana questioned to herself, although Gray's superior hearing had caught it and knew that she was slowly buying it.

"Yes you were, he told me how inseparable the two of you were until something happened that changed all that. I don't need to tell you what exactly happened as I'm positive you know what I'm alluding to, so I'll just move on to say that the news was not all that good down the line. He confided in me that your positions about the life you were carrying differed greatly and he managed to convince you to keep it and give the child up for adoption. He admitted that neither of you were truly ready to start a family with each other." Gray saw the shocked look on Cana's face and could understand that it was something hard to grasp altogether, but he had yet to make any major lie.

"I just...I don't understand. I don't remember any of this..." Cana gripped Gildarts' hand and the crash mage tried with everything in his power not to throttle Gray, but he wanted to hear this as well to understand what they went through when he wasn't there so it barely canceled each other out.

"For the next nine months he would tell me all that he had to do for you, he worked as hard as he could to provide for himself and you since you didn't wish for the guild to see you in such a state. In time he told me that you gave birth to a lovely baby girl, but the time you spent with her was cut short and she was taken to an orphanage." Gray grit his teeth at his memory of that dreaded day and wished he never let go of his baby girl, by the way Cana looked it seemed that she couldn't believe her actions. "After that, you both had a falling out and in the end he came back to Isvan broken hearted. Then came the disappearance of Fairy Tail and he grew tireless at the thought that you were gone for good, it took a while for him to accept it and when you all returned he was filled with happiness."

"He...still loved me after all that?" Cana couldn't remember for the life of her of someone that could have been that special to her and she hated that as she could never tell Yuki about her father until they find him.

"He went off to see you at the Grand Magic Games back in '91, but things didn't turn out as I thought they would." Most of the story was truth except for obvious lies and the parts dealing after giving Yuki up for adoption, but this was where he needed to make a much bigger lie to complete the tale.

"I didn't hear much of the games, but when it ended I was later contacted by an official from Fiore who was giving me his condolences for my loss. I didn't understand what he was talking about and only when I came here by their request did I discover that the one person I considered my brother...was killed." A small gasp escaped Cana's lips and the ice mage knew that she wasn't expecting that outcome, hell he didn't even think about the death of his made up person and yet it seemed fitting. "I personally transported his coffin back to Isvan and buried him alongside his parents, something even I think he would have wanted as both he and I were orphans when our parents were killed."

"So I'll never get to meet him again." It was a whisper, but it was enough for the ice mage to know that the story had worked and that the hole he was digging just got even deeper. "You know the past I shared with this person, which you have yet to give a name, but how did you know Yuki was my daughter?"

"His name was Gray if you truly wish to know and I didn't have any idea of it at first, but with the training we did and her continued use of magic did I discover that her signature was just too similar to his. It was by medical similarities the hospital records in my hometown had that I was truly assured that Yuki was Gray's daughter." Gray responded, giving up his name to completely seal the deal as even Cana had no idea who Gray was, he didn't exist in her or anyone else's mind aside from a select few. "Yuki's lived a relatively good life with her adoptive parents until they passed away leaving her with a step-father that wouldn't give her the time of day, before she went on her own trek to become my student. I guess that should've been my first sign as she possesses her father's brave spirit."

In the end, Gray had indirectly told her the past they shared when going through the motions of having Yuki together, but made sure to make it out that he was a third party that knew the father very well. Gildarts was none too happy with his story, whether it was because he lied to his daughter or that he never admitted to being the true father of Yuki, the ice mage was unsure. As for Cana, she had to sit on the ground and take all this in as it was surreal to her that there was parts of her past that she can't remember. Parts that seemed to be filled the best moments she ever had.

"Then tell me this Zero, why is it that my daughter doesn't have stretch marks on her belly like other mothers would have?" Gildarts questioned as he wanted to see Gray get out of the lies he kept telling to others, but it made it out that Cana wasn't the true mother at all.

"Gray said they went to visit some old healer Fairy Tail is acquainted with that gave her a remedy to erase the marks, aside from that maybe it's because she also keeps her body in top condition." The hooded mage replied and immediately the crash mage received a punch in the arm by his daughter as she looked angrily at him.

"How could you say that Yuki's not mine, besides it's totally possible that Porlyusica has some sort of remedy to do that for me." After that outburst, the crash mage realized that it would be best if he kept his mouth shut as the brat was much more clever with his words than he gave him credit for. "But I just don't get why I can't remember any of this."

"It could be that you've repressed these memories as hard as you could. In any case, you now know the past and a very simple reason as to how I know Yuki is yours." Gray spoke up gaining their attention again and looked over at the direction from where he and Gildarts had come from. "If you wouldn't mind Cana, I must return to my student and the same goes for Gildarts as he's responsible for her."

"Right, I'm right behind you Zero." The crash mage spoke up as he quickly stood up and tried to follow after him, but they were stopped by a row of cards that floated before them.

"You are taking me to her, she needs to know that her mother is aware of who she is and wants her back in her life." Cana said with no room for argument and a part of Gray was worried if little Yuki would be prepared to hear the news.

"Are you sure you want to do this, I'm unsure how Yuki will respond to this." Gray said as this could end very badly if Yuki didn't want to accept the truth.

"I want to and I'll do everything I can so that Yuki can accept me as her birth mother." The brunette said confidently as she walked passed the two and the cards that floated before them quickly formed into a deck onto her outstretched hand as she walked onwards, with Gray and Gildarts following after her.

The ice mage played a number of scenarios in his head about this and every single time the end result was that Yuki would feel betrayed that he didn't tell her about her birth mother. Including the fact that he too was aware of her mother, then there was the point that Yuki could put two and two together if Cana mentions that her father's name was Gray. He kept mulling over each one before he realized that they stood before their little girl, the Harbinger sisters, Natsu and Lucy who all looked at them curiously as they came back with Cana.

"Well, what took you guys so long and how come Cana's here too?" Yuki asked and Gray wanted to hide deeper in his cloak as she was the first to ask the million Jewel question that he hoped could get staved off for a few more minutes.

"You see Yuki, me and your master were talking when Cana spotted us and said she wanted to tag along and..." Gildarts was trying his hardest to make this situation less stressful on someone, exactly who it was Gray didn't know because it was just making things worse.

"We'll get to that later Yuki, for now I can see that everyone's already done so let's get back to walking around as soon as I pay the bill." Gray spoke up as he went inside the cafe, relieved that he was out of there and hoped the old man was smart enough to make sure Cana didn't say anything.

As for those still outside, the air grew pretty thick all of a sudden as Cana stood off to a side although it was mainly due in part by Gildarts. He knew that if someone was going to break the news to Yuki, then it had to be Gray as his granddaughter trusted her master more over anyone else. It was then that the thought of Gray never being able to get back into the picture crossed his mind as he effectively decided to kill himself off and decide that he had been dead for the past five years. His fantasy was still intact, but dear daddy won't be there with them and it'll just be mommy and grandpa. His thoughts slightly faltered as Cana tried to break free from his grasp and he noticed at the corner of his eye that Lucy was looking at them questioningly.

It wasn't long until the brunette broke free and looked over at Natsu and Lucy, she wondered when they met Zero plus why were they having lunch with him. The dragon slayer of course was too busy eating the last portions of food left for him, while Lucy was well aware of the question the card mage had and decided to answer it before she asked.

"Natsu and I got into a bit of a misunderstanding with Zero and in the end he invited us to lunch." The blonde said as Cana accepted her answer much more curious than what Lucy wanted and watched as her gaze moved from them over towards the two ladies at their table. "And these are the Harbinger sisters; Apryl and Madeline. Zero brought them with him because they wanted news lives for themselves, but I'm sure they could tell you more about it themselves."

The brunette's curiosity was actually enough for her to ask them how they met Zero in the first place, allowing their conversation to go on until the hooded mage himself had come out at last. Gray could already see it on Gildarts' face that he was glad he came back and judging by the way his daughter was looking at him, she too was waiting for him to come back and explain himself.

"Lucy, if you and Natsu wouldn't mind, can you get the sisters to speak with your guildmaster. I've promised Yuki that she'd have my attention for the rest of my visit and I can trust that they will be safe under your watch." Gray asked as the blonde tried to come up with an answer to deny his request, but in the end she had to agree as there wasn't much else they could do to stick around Zero.

"Sure, Master Makarov may be able to set them up with a guild suited for their needs. Maybe they'll be our new members, right Natsu?" Lucy turned to look at the dragon slayer to merely come to the sight of a satisfied Natsu, rubbing his stomach happily. "Nevermind."

"Do you really believe that you can leave us under their care, Zero?" Apryl wearily asked as she still worried over the fact that they had pursuers for the longest time and nearby them to boot.

"There's nothing to be afraid of; Lucy's a powerful celestial mage and there's no doubt her spirits can handle anything. If that's not enough, then you also have Natsu Dragneel at your side and I doubt there's much in the way of some low leveled dark mage who can stop him." The hooded mage replied although Apryl was still unsure as she felt safest with him behind them, but Madeline gave her a reassuring nod to let her know that it was alright.

"We'll be fine, plus we'll get to see how this country's number one guild is like." Madeline spoke out to ease her sister a little more and the pink haired dragon slayer gave them a happy grin as he shot up onto his feet.

"That's great then, so let's get you guys to Fairy Tail!" He proclaimed, grabbing their luggage into his arms all the while telling Lucy to hurry.

The blonde only shook her head at how eager he was to show off the guild to the two young ladies they just met that day, but it only reminded her of how he was when she first met him. She kindly excused herself from Zero's precesence as the Harbinger sisters followed her, but she couldn't shake the feeling she had about Yuki's master. It was weird to say the least as their fate would've been intertwined years ago if a different course of action was to be taken and how his words lit her imaginative mind into an inferno of how real her daydream was. Most ironic word choice if she had to be honest as she knew very well that Zero was an ice mage, but they were words that still made her point.

As the group walked away, Gray turned to look at the others and wasn't all too thrilled with what needed to come next. He wasn't prepared to tell the young ice mage any of this, how could he when even he had become so stricken with the news. He spent the first few days in a surreal state to discover that the daughter he gave up for adoption had actually come looking for him, given that she came looking to become his student although the idea was still mind blowing. He couldn't tell anyone back then and now he didn't have anyone to tell, then he remembered that there was a point during Cana's pregnancy where he exhausted himself for taking so many jobs that he collapsed right in front of Erza.

FLASHBACK

"What's going on Gray, what's gotten into you that you're taking on so many request at a given time?" A then eighteen year old Erza asked his weary self as he laid on one of the guild's infirmary beds, doing everything in his power to stay awake.

"I have to...I have to support us." He replied tiredly, how much he had wished then that he could take it easy like he used to. "They need me..."

"What are you talking about Gray, who needs you?" Erza was like everyone else at the time, unaware of what happened between him and Cana. As far as the requip mage knew, the only thing he was doing was working to finally pay off his house so he could finally get his privacy without Natsu barging into his room at the boys dorm.

"Cana and the...baby..." He had not been in the right state of mind to hide secrets, but if he had to be honest then he was glad that it was Erza over anyone else.

"The baby? Whose baby?" Erza's questioning voice was all that he recalled before he finally gave into his exhaustion, but it wasn't going to be over just because he fell asleep.

END FLASHBACK

Gray remembered how the scarlet haired girl grilled him for answers of what he said before he finally caved in, she was surprisingly calm in the end. Of course she was disappointed that they allowed something like this to happen, to keep it a secret from their family, but she was understanding and wanted to ease Gray's burden as his close friend. The ice mage trusted Erza to be silent about it and was glad that not a word was spoken, but no one accepted the end result. Gray looked back at that time and was well aware that Erza won't have any idea of that occurring or that she knew Cana had been pregnant in the past. The same could be said about Cana as her memories have been wiped of that event happening when he was exiled from Fairy Tail. Just another memory held onto by someone who's been forgotten by everyone he ever knew.

"What do you think Zero?" Gildarts said as Gray momentarily shook his head beneath his hood and turned to face the crash mage.

"Sorry, I didn't catch that. Mind repeating that for me?" He could feel the worried look his daughter was giving him, not to mention the questioning one Cana was giving him as well from off to the side.

"I said that we should go and find a place suitable to talk about, you know, recent events with Yuki." The orange haired man repeated and at that, Gray had become aware of Cana urging her father to let her speak to her newly discovered daughter. An odd thing since she was patient to reveal herself to Gildarts before, but maybe she no longer wants to risk the same thing happening again.

"Sure, how about that park I noticed on the map of the town. It looks like a good place if any." Gray replied and Cana was the first to claim that she'd lead them there in no time, which the ice mage wished he could get to postpone as much as he possibly could.

As the group walked through the streets, they made idle chatter with each other with the occasional glance from a citizen whenever they looked at the large, hooded man that walked with them. No one batted an eye of caution of who he was as both Gildarts and Cana were present with him and Gray could say that it helped not to draw attention to himself when he saw some of them he helped in the past. The park grew ever closer to them, but the ice mage stopped Cana from leading them and went off to a familiar spot near the water's edge that was enclosed by a railing. He skimmed his hand across it before he felt the familiar grooves of hand imprints in a specific rail, full knowing that this was the spot in which he was given one of the biggest pieces of news in his was an interesting feeling as he stood there as a part of him could've sworn that Loke was just behind him, the spirit cowering behind Aries for safety. It wasn't one of his more impactful memories, but it was still had it's share of pain nonetheless though the nostalgia was swept away as Yuki began to tug at his cloak.

"Master Zero, Gildarts said I needed to talk to you. He took Cana for a bit of a walk to give us privacy, but I don't know what he's getting at." The little brunette said as Gray looked down towards his daughter, using his Devil's Eye to see past the magical seal over her features. Sure this ability of his was mainly used against demons he fought to see past their deceptions, but it worked well to see past certain magical spells.

"Guess the old man wants me to tackle this alone, bet it's because of my answer that made him look bad in front of Cana." Gray mumbled to himself, letting out a sigh as this would prove to be quite the challenge for him. "Yuki, have you ever considered searching for your actual birth parents before?"

"I thought about it when I went looking for you, but not in a while, why?" Yuki was so innocent, but Gray had to tell the truth one way or another and he wasn't about to go with the "bandage method" to tell her.

"It's interesting that you still went looking for a master over looking for the people that brought you into this world." Some part of Gray felt like a hypocrite as he did something similar as well, instead of looking for a welcoming family after losing his own, he sought out someone who could teach him magic so that he could get his revenge.

"Master, I was afraid that they wouldn't want me and I'd rather take the chance of becoming your student over that." It would seem odd for a girl at the age of eight to take on a dangerous journey to find a master over taking one to look for her family, but what she hadn't revealed was that she didn't want to forget about her adoptive parents if she ever found her real ones. "I'm glad I found you and all that you've done for me."

"I'm no great man Yuki, I think I'm far from something honorable truth be told." Gray knew she thought highly of him, but he was never one to seek out praise from anyone. "There's much you still have to learn and having a loving family will help you benefit."

"That's like what Gildarts said to me a while ago, but I do have a family; Fairy Tail and you Master." Yuki admitted timidly as she found it embarrassing to tell her master that he was like family to her and if she had to be honest, she would've preferred that he adopted her instead of gaining guardianship of her.

"If you were still living with me, I would've thought you wanted something squirt." Gray joked, but her comment made it only that much harder to tell her. "You'll probably hate me for this, so I'll get it over with and take your anger."

"Why would I hate you Master?" Yuki had become concerned as she never heard her master take on such a tone and worried for what he had to tell her.

"Yuki...I wasn't aware of this before the incident, but as soon as I found out, I kept it a secret. In the weeks you were recovering, I could have told you this and yet I couldn't bring myself to do it." Gray looked down at his daughter, the innocence she holds made the regrets he had lighten and now he had to put the weight of truth on her. "I know who your parents are."

Yuki stood in silence at her master's revelation, not expecting him to know the people who gave her up when she was but a baby. "You do...are they still around?" She asked cautiously, the little brunette completely caught off guard by the news.

"Yes and no, I'm afraid your father is...dead." Now that made Gray feel his heart split in two, he never wanted to lie to his daughter about his existence. The ice mage wanted her to be in his arms and learn that her daddy was much closer than she could have ever expected, but now it was for the sake of keeping his story together. "He was a good man and a great person, but his time was cut short."

"Oh..." The small reply was all she could muster as both her fathers shared a similar fate and it only left her mother, but the news of her worried the little brunette as well. "What about my mom, do you know her?"

"As for your mother, well...let's just say that she wants to tell you herself. I have no right of spoiling this for either of you." Yuki looked at him puzzled as the only thing she could tell by this was that her mother was close and he may have contacted her to see her here in Magnolia.

"He's right, I want to tell you personally that I'm your mother Yuki." The little brunette immediately froze as she heard a new voice behind her and tried her hardest not to overreact. She was completely blind sided and hadn't expected for this meeting to occur so soon.

She looked up at her master for any last minute advice he could possibly give to her, but he just gave her a reassuring smile as he signaled her to turn around. Taking a deep breath, Yuki steadied herself and with one fluid motion, she turned around to meet the woman who was her mother. The young ice mage first noticed her hips and as her eyes traveled upward, they stopped at the recognizable guild mark on her waist and before she knew it, her eyes landed on a pair of amethyst ones. This was not what she expected, this was far from what her initial thoughts were of who the woman her master knew to be her mother would be.

Cana nervously kept eye contact with her daughter as she didn't say a single word since turning to face her, all the while nervously clasping her hands together in order to steady herself. Gildarts was not far behind her, giving her some advice of what she needed to do when the truth was finally revealed and had been grateful for his support although she needed it now more than ever. How was it that she was more than willing to come out to say that she was Yuki's mother, but at the very last moment her fire fizzled out and worried about the younger girl's reaction? All that was left was the expected silence and the card mage could see that her daughter was trying to form words, though they were caught in her throat as she had yet to utter a single syllable.

The two stared at each other for what felt like hours before Yuki broke eye contact and the three adults cautiously awaited her words. They soon heard a meek voice, something so low that neither Cana nor Gildarts had caught it although it wasn't the same case for Gray. The hooded mage shifted for a bit, like he was going to do something, but was halted when Yuki finally bursted out with a cry.

"It's not right!" She cried out, turning her head abruptly and running off into the park, momentarily stunning Cana who hadn't expected that.

"Gildarts watch over Cana, I'll go after Yuki." Gray ordered as he went off after his daughter, he too caught unaware of the way Yuki reacted compared to what he thought would happen.

Gray ran in the direction his daughter rushed off into and didn't have to try very hard to locate her as a visible trail was laid before him. If there was something he had learned about the little brunette was that her emotional imbalance causes her to release her ice magic freely, which he hadn't taken into account as the snow usually covered any sign of such an event back in Isvan whenever her mood drastically changed. It wasn't long before he found her sitting at the base of a tree with her head buried in her knees as she hugged them close to her body.

The hooded mage sat alongside her, placing a comforting gloved hand on top of her head while she kept her face hidden. Gray concluded that it must have been difficult to truly come to terms with all that has happened in this one day, just like the day she was captured although he had thought that she could toughen this one out. It pained him to see his daughter in such a state, but at the moment their bond only consisted of a master-student one compared to the father-daughter one he wanted.

"How...How could that woman be my mother?" Yuki lowly asked as she had yet to really process that Cana was her mother.

"It's unexpected I'm sure, but it's the truth squirt. Cana Alberona is truly your birth mother." Gray replied, removing his hand as she finally looked up at him although the pain stricken face she wore added another shot of pain in his heart.

"But why her!? She's far from what the motherly type should be! Erza acts more like a mother to me than she does!" Her confusion was not lost on him as even the ice mage knew that his old scarlet haired best friend tended to have a motherly effect on people or big sister type that cares in their own, painful way.

"Looks are quite deceiving Yuki, you should be well aware of that. Cana can be the mother you pictured." Gray tried to reason since he was the most likely person to be able to fix this situation, but that didn't mean it was guaranteed to work.

"I know, but all she does is drink to her heart's content, fight with anyone that bothers her and just barely keep some of the others in check." Yuki argued back as it was the only thing she ever saw the older brunette do around the guild. "Not like Erza who keeps everyone in line, makes sure that the people she's watching over are alright and still manages to keep the guild lively."

"Sometimes we've got to accept that the things we imagined for ourselves won't come to pass and that we need to be alright with that." It was surprising to see how much Yuki preferred Erza over Cana, but the young brunette had to accept the card mage for what she actually is. "Give Cana a chance and you'll see that she may surprise you in taking on her role as a mother."

"I don't know, I've heard what her past was like and I bet she doesn't even know who my dad actually is." How much was Yuki both right and wrong in Gray's eyes as the older brunette was both aware of Yuki's father and at the same time unaware of his true identity. "Couldn't you just adopt me, Master?"

"What?" Now that surprised Gray even more than before as he hadn't expected her to say anything like that.

"I've...I've been meaning to ask you about this. I wanted you to adopt me and make me your daughter whether by Isvani law or Fiorean." To Yuki, her master had resembled a father figure that equalled that of her first father and, dare she say, even excelled sometimes.

"Squirt that's flattering in a way, but I doubt I'll make a good father to you. Besides, do you really want someone like me as your father, with all that I have to do and face all year round?" It wasn't like Gray wanted to disway her proposition, it's just that he had never expected that to happen before although he thought back to Ur and how she was willing to take him and Lyon in as her own.

"I've stuck around you long enough to know what happens and you trained me yourself, so I can take care of myself out there." The little ice mage gave imploring eyes to her master for him to accept, but Gray was steadfast and wasn't willing to separate Cana from her rightful place as a mother.

"Listen to me Yuki, please give Cana a chance to prove to you that she can be your mother and if you really think she can't rise to the challenge then..." This was a serious bargain he was about to make and it heavily relied on Cana really showing off that she had what it took to be a mother, "I'll return to Fiore to legally adopt you and make you my daughter."

"Deal, if it comes to it then I'll contact you." The little ice mage was positive that she'd call her master in due time, but at the same time she felt a small pang of what she could guess as guilt for doing something like this to Cana.

"Alright, now come on. We need to get back to your mother and you new grandpa as well." The hooded mage spoke up he noticed the look of realization strike his daughter, now knowing that her grandfather was actually Gildarts.

Gray had been worried of what outcome could have occurred because of all this and in truth, this was not one of the worse case scenarios, but it was still bad nonetheless. He was truly unsure how Cana would be prepared to take the news of being a mother, but he had hopes that she'd be able to make it to Yuki's expectations. That look she made when they spoke to each other was enough to tell him that his old friend was ready and willing to take on this new role that had been bestowed upon her. He only hoped that the lies he told today thus far would be worth it in the long run for the better of everyone else.